The World's Billionaires is an annual ranking by net worth of the world's wealthiest billionaires compiled and published in March annually by the American business magazine Forbes. The list was first published in March 1987,[1] the total net worth of each individual on the list is estimated, in United States dollars, based on their assets and accounting for debt. Royalty and dictators whose wealth comes from their positions are excluded from these lists.[3]

In 2017, there was a record of 2,043 people on the list, which is the first time over 2,000 people were listed, that included 195 newcomers that included 76 from China and 25 from the U.S.; there were 56 people under 40 and it had a record of 227 women.[4] The average net worth of the list came in at US$3.75billion, down US$110million from 2015. Added together, the total net worth for 2017's billionaires was US$7.67trillion, up from US$7.1trillion in 2015.[2][5] As of 2017[update], Microsoft founder Bill Gates has topped the list 18 of the past 23 years.[2]

According to a 2017 Oxfam report, the top eight billionaires own as much combined wealth as "half the human race".[6][7]

Methodology

Each year, Forbes employs a team of more than fifty reporters from a variety of countries to track the activity of the world's wealthiest individuals.[8] Preliminary surveys are sent to those who may qualify for the list. According to Forbes, they received three types of responses – some people try to inflate their wealth, others cooperate but leave out details, and some refuse to answer any questions.[9] Business deals are then scrutinized and estimates of valuable assets – land, homes, vehicles, artwork, etc. – are made. Interviews are conducted to vet the figures and get a better idea of an individual's holdings. Finally, positions in a publicly traded stock are priced to market on a date roughly a month before publication. Privately held companies are priced by the prevailing price-to-sales or price-to-earnings ratios. Known debt is subtracted from assets to get a final estimate of an individual's estimated worth in United States dollars, since stock prices fluctuate rapidly, an individual's true wealth and ranking at the time of publication may vary from their situation when the list was compiled.[8]

Family fortunes dispersed over a large number of individuals are included only if those individuals' holdings are worth more than a billion dollars. However, when a living individual has dispersed his or her wealth to immediate family members, it is included under a single listing provided that individual is still living.[8] Royalty and dictators are always excluded from the lists.

Annual rankings

The rankings are published annually in March, so the net worth listed are snapshots taken at that time, these lists only show the top 10 wealthiest billionaires.

2017

On the 30th anniversary of the Forbes' list of the world's billionaires, for the fourth year in a row, Bill Gates was named the richest man in the world,[2] the number of billionaires increased 13% to 2,043 from 1,810 in 2016; this is the biggest change in over 30 years of tracking billionaires globally.[2] This is the first time after 12 years that Carlos Slim was not within the top five, the U.S. continues to have the most billionaires in the world, with a record of 565. China has 319 (this does not include Hong Kong with 67 and Macau with 1), Germany has 114 and India has the fourth most with 101; India has reached over 100 billionaires for its first time.

2016

For the third year in a row, Bill Gates was named the richest man in the world by Forbes's 2016 list of the world's billionaires,[10] this is the 17th time that the founder of Microsoft has claimed the top spot. Amancio Ortega rose from last year's position of number four to second.[11]Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway came in third for the second consecutive time,[12] while Mexican telecommunication mogul Carlos Slim slipped down from last year's second position to fourth. Jeff Bezos of Amazon,[13]Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook[14] and Michael Bloomberg of Bloomberg L.P.,[15] appear for the first time on the Forbes top 10 billionaires list, coming at fifth, sixth and eighth position, respectively. Zuckerberg became the youngest top 10 billionaire this year at the age of 31. Larry Ellison, Charles Koch and David Koch also slipped down from their last year's positions, with Ellison dropping to seventh from fifth and the Kochs falling to ninth position from sixth, respectively.

2015

In the 29th annual Forbes list of global billionaires, a record 1,826 billionaires were named with an aggregated net worth of $7.1 trillion compared to $6.4 trillion last year. 46 of the billionaires in this list are under the age of 40. A record number of 290 people joined the list for the first time, of whom 25 percent hail from China, which produced a world-leading 71 newcomers, the United States came in second, with 57, followed by India, with 28, and Germany, with 23.[16] The United States has the largest number of billionaires with 526. Russia went down to 88 from 111 in 2014. Russia was placed behind China, Germany and India by the number of billionaires. Self-made billionaires made up the largest number of people on the list with 1,191 positions (over 65 percent) while just 230 (under 13 percent) have wealth through inheritance, the number of billionaires who inherited a portion but are still working to increase their fortunes is 405.[17]

2014

Bill Gates added $9 billion to his fortune since 2013 and topped the Forbes 2014 billionaire list, he has topped the list 15 of the previous 20 years, but his last number one ranking in 2009.[20] Mexican telecommunication mogul Carlos Slim came in second place after being number one the previous four years. Zara founder Amancio Ortega placed third for the second consecutive year. American investor Warren Buffett was in the top five for the 20th consecutive year, placing fourth.[21] America's Christy Walton was the highest ranking female, placing ninth overall.[1]Aliko Dangote of Nigeria became the first African ever to enter the top 25, with an estimated net worth of $25 billion.[3]

A total of 1,645 people made the 2014 billionaire list, representing combined wealth of $6.4 trillion.[21] Of those, a record 268 were newcomers, surpassing 2008's 226 newcomers.[1] One hundred people listed in 2013 failed to make the list,[21] the number of women on the list rose to a record 172 in 2014.[1] Approximately 66 percent of the list was self-made, 13 percent achieved their wealth through inheritance alone, and 21 percent through a mixture of the two.[3]

The United States had 492 billionaires on the list, the most of any country,[21] the country also had the most newcomers with 50, and women with 54.[1] China had the second most billionaires with 152, while Russia was third with 111.[21]Algeria, Lithuania, Tanzania, and Uganda were all represented on the list for the first time. Turkey saw the most people drop off the list, 19, due to a period of high inflation in the country.[3]

2013

Carlos Slim topped the 2013 billionaire list, marking his fourth consecutive year at the top. Bill Gates remained in second, while Amancio Ortega moved up to third. Ortega's gain of $19.5 billion was the largest of anyone on the list.[22] Warren Buffett failed to make the top three for the first time since 2000, placing fourth. Diesel founder Renzo Rosso was among the top newcomers, debuting with an estimate net worth of $3 billion.[23]

A global rise in asset prices, led Forbes editor Randall Lane to declare "It [was] a very good year to be a billionaire". However, it was not a good year to be Eike Batista who fell from seventh to 100th, suffering the largest net loss of anyone on the list.[22] Overall, net gainers outnumbered net losers by 4:1.[23]

A record total of 1,426 people made the 2013 list, representing $5.4 trillion of assets.[24] Of those, 442 billionaires hailed from the United States,[22] the Asian-Pacific region had 386 billionaires and Europe 366. The list also featured a record number of newcomers, 210, representing 42 different countries. Sixty people from the 2012 list fell below a billion dollar of assets in 2013 and eight others from the 2012 list died, the Asia-Pacific region had the most drop-offs, with 29, followed by the United States with 16. The 2013 list featured 138 women, of which 50 came from the United States. A majority of the list (961 individuals, 67 percent) was entirely self-made; 184 (13 percent) inherited their wealth, and 281 (20 percent) achieved their fortune through a combination of inheritance and business acumen.[24]

2012

Carlos Slim topped the 2012 list, marking this third consecutive year at the top. Bill Gates placed second, but narrowed the gap from 2011 as Slim's fortune fell $5 billion while Gates' rose $5 billion. Warren Buffett remained in third place. Bernard Arnault of France was the top-ranking European on the list, placing fourth.[25]Ricardo Salinas Pliego was the greatest gainer in terms of dollars, adding $9.2 billion to his fortune and moving up to number 37 overall.[25] Making her debut on the list at age 27, Spanx founder Sara Blakely became the youngest self-made female billionaire ever.[26] Colombia's Alejandro Santo Domingo was the highest-ranked newcomer, inheriting a $9.5 billion stake in Santo Domingo Group from his father.[25] India's Lakshmi Mittal was the largest loser as his fortune dropped from $31.1 billion to $20.7 billion as the price of steel maker ArcelorMittal fell sharply.[25] As a result, he failed to make the top 10 for the first time since 2004 and lost his title of richest Asian to Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing.[27]

A record total of 1,226 people made the 2012 list, representing 58 different countries. Of those, 126 were newcomers to the list and 104 were women, the United States had the greatest number of billionaires with 425. Russia had 96 people on the list, while China had 95.[25] Georgia, Morocco, and Peru were newly represented on the list. Falling stock prices in Asia contributed to 117 former billionaires falling from the list worldwide. Twelve others listed in 2011 died. Overall, net gainers (460) barely outnumbered net losers (441).[27]

To coincide with the release of the 2012 list, Forbes announced a new "Billionaire Real-Time Ticker" updating the wealth of the world's top fifty billionaires in real time.[25]

2011

In the 25th annual Forbes list of global billionaires, Carlos Slim added $20.5 billion to his fortune, the most of anyone, and retained his number one ranking with a total fortune of $74 billion. Bill Gates remained in second place with $56 billion, while Warren Buffett was third with $50 billion, the top 10 had a combined wealth of $406 billion, up from $342 billion in 2010.[28] According to Forbes editor Kerry Dolan, "media and technology billionaires definitely benefited from a stronger stock market and a growing enthusiasm for all things social" since the 2010 list.[29] However, Nigerian commodity mogul Aliko Dangote was the greatest gainer on a percentage basis as his fortune increased 557 percent to $13.5 billion. Mark Zuckerberg was one of seven Facebook-related billionaires on the list, as he $9.5 billion to his fortune to move up to 52nd. Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz was the youngest person on the list. Aged 26, eight days younger than Zuckerberg, he debuted at number 420 with an estimated fortune of $2.7 billion. IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad was the largest loser as he saw his fortune plummet from $23 billion to $6 billion, dropping him from 11th to 162nd overall.[28]

A record 1,210 billionaires made the 2011 list, representing a combined wealth of $4.5 trillion, up from $3.6 trillion the previous year.[30] One third of the world's billionaires, 413, came from the United States. China had the second most billionaires with 115, while Russia was third with 101. Asia moved up to 332 billionaires, passing Europe as a region for the first time since the 1990s,[28] the 2011 list included 214 newcomers and the average net worth of those on it increased to $3.7 billion.[29]

2010

Carlos Slim narrowly eclipsed Bill Gates to top the billionaire list for the first time. Slim saw his estimated worth surge $18.5 billion to $53.5 billion as shares of America Movil rose 35 percent. Gates' estimated wealth rose $13 billion to $53 billion, placing him second. Warren Buffett was third with $47 billion.[31]Christy Walton was the highest-ranking woman, placing 12th overall, with an inherited fortune of $22.5 billion.[32] At age 25, Mark Zuckerberg continued to be the world's youngest self-made billionaire.[9] American Isaac Perlmutter was among the newcomers with an estimated fortune of $4 billion largely acquired in his sale of Marvel Entertainment to Disney.[31]

A total of 1,011 people made the 2010 list, the United States accounted for 403 billionaires, followed by China with 89 and Russia with 62.[32] It was the first time China, while including Hong Kong, placed second.[31] A total of 55 countries were represented on the 2010 list, including Finland and Pakistan which claimed their first billionaires.[32] Eighty-nine women made the list, but only 14 of them were self-made,[32] the combined net worth of the list was $3.6 trillion, up 50 percent from 2009's $2.4 trillion, while the average net worth was $3.5 billion.[9]

The 2010 list featured 164 re-entries and 97 true newcomers.[9] Asia accounted for more than 100 of the new entrants. Overall, just 12 percent of the list lost wealth since 2009, and 30 people fell off the list. Thirteen others died.[31] Of the 89 women, 12 were newcomers in 2010. Steve Forbes said the growing number of billionaires was clear sign that the world's economy was recovering from 2009's global financial crisis.[9]

In June 2010, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates announce The Giving Pledge that is a promise to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy, as of 2017, the pledge has 158 signers but some of the signers have since died. Most of the signers of the pledge are billionaires, and their pledges total to over $365 billion.[33]

Each hold an essentially equal share in Wal-Mart. Had he been alive in 2001, Sam Walton would have been the world's wealthiest person.

2000

Bill Gates became the first American to take the top spot of the World's Billionaires in 1995 with a net worth of $12.5 billion and he remained there during the Dot-com bubble's height in 1999 when Gates' fortune peaked at $90 billion. After the dot-com bubble started to collapse in 2000, his wealth dropped to $60 billion although he remained at the top of the list.

Legend

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Has increased from the previous ranking.

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Statistics

The Dot-com bubble created the most paper wealth for some billionaires. However, once the dotcom bubble burst the new rich saw their fortunes disappear.[35] Billionaires' fortunes were hit even harder by the global financial crisis; 2009 was the first time in five years that the world had a net loss in the number of billionaires.[36] The strong performance of the financial markets and global economic recovery have erased financial assets losses. Most of the richest people in the world have seen their fortunes soar in the early 2010s.[37][38]

Forbes
–
Forbes is an American business magazine. Published bi-weekly, it features articles on finance, industry, investing. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, politics and its headquarters is located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Primary competitors in the business magazine category include Fortune and Bloomb

Bill Gates
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William Henry Bill Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, author, and philanthropist. In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft, which became the worlds largest PC software company, during his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, and was the largest individual shareholde

1000000000 (number)
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1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. One billion can also be written as b or bn, in scientific notation, it is written as 1 ×109. The SI prefix giga indicates 1,000,000,000 times the base unit, one billion years may be called eon in astronomy and geology. Previously in British English, the word bill

1.
Visualisation of powers of ten from one to 1 billion

Orders of magnitude (numbers)
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This list contains selected positive numbers in increasing order, including counts of things, dimensionless quantity and probabilities. Mathematics – Writing, Approximately 10−183,800 is a rough first estimate of the probability that a monkey, however, taking punctuation, capitalization, and spacing into account, the actual probability is far lower

1.
The logarithmic scale can compactly represent the relationship among variously sized numbers.

Mean (average)
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In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean, or simply the mean or average when the context is clear, is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the collection. The collection is often a set of results of an experiment, the term arithmetic mean is preferred in some contexts in mathematics and statistics because

United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean,

United States dollar
–
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as en

4.
Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President William McKinley.

Royal family
–
A royal family is the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family. However, in common parlance members of any family which reigns by hereditary right are often referred to as royalty or royals and it is also customary in some circles to refer to the extended relations of a deposed monarch and his or her des

1.
The Royal Family of France in classical costume during the reign of Louis XIV.

Dictator
–
A dictator is a political leader who wields absolute power. A state ruled by a dictator is called a dictatorship, the word originated as the title of a magistrate in the Roman Republic appointed by the Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency. Like the term tyrant, and to a lesser degree autocrat, dictator came to be used almost exclusivel

China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin

Microsoft
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Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup, as of 2016, it was the worlds largest software maker by revenue, and one of the wor

1.
Front lobby entrance of building 17, one of the largest buildings on Microsoft's main campus in Redmond

2.
Paul Allen (l.) and Bill Gates (r.) on October 19, 1981, in a sea of PCs after signing a pivotal contract. IBM called Microsoft in July 1980 inquiring about programming languages for its upcoming PC line; after failed negotiations with another company, IBM gave Microsoft a contract to develop the OS for the new line of PCs.

4.
In 1996, Microsoft released Windows CE, a version of the operating system meant for personal digital assistants and other tiny computers.

Oxfam
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Oxfam is an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty. It was one of local committees formed in support of the National Famine Relief Committee. Their mission was to persuade the British government to allow food relief through the Allied blockade for the citizens of occupied Greece. The fir

Carlos Slim
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Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world and he derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso. As of 31 July 2016 he was #7 on Forbes listing of The Worlds B

1.
Carlos Slim, Chair of Grupo Carso, arriving in the Presidential Palace for a meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on October 24, 2007

Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occ

1.
The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in WWI and WWII.

Macau
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Macau, also spelled Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north, Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a populati

1.
Portuguese coin (minted 1996) commemorating the arrival of the Portuguese in China in 1513

USD
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as en

4.
Obverse of rare 1934 $500 Federal Reserve Note, featuring a portrait of President William McKinley.

Citizenship
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Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless. Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although th

2.
Geoffrey Hosking suggests that fear of being enslaved was a central motivating force for the development of the Greek sense of citizenship. Sculpture: a Greek woman being served by a slave-child.

3.
Diagram of relationship between; Citizens, Politicians + Laws

Warren Buffett
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Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is considered by some to be one of the most successful investors in the world and he attended New York Institute of Finance to specialize his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. After meeting Charli

1.
Buffett speaking to students from the University of Kansas School of Business, May 6, 2005

Jeff Bezos
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The company began as an Internet merchant of books and expanded to a wide variety of products and services, most recently video streaming and audio streaming. Amazon. com is currently the worlds largest Internet sales company on the World Wide Web, Bezos’s other diversified business interests include aerospace and newspapers. He is the founder and

1.
Bezos at the ENCORE awards in 2010

Amazon.com
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Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, an

Amancio Ortega
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Amancio Ortega Gaona is a Spanish business tycoon. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories retail shops. According to Forbes Magazine, he is currently the richest person in Europe and was, until March 2017 and he left school and moved to A Coruña at the age of 14, due

1.
Amancio Ortega

Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by t

Inditex
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Industria de Diseño Textil, S. A. is a Spanish multinational clothing company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia. Inditex, the biggest fashion group in the world, operates over 7,200 stores in 93 markets worldwide, the companys flagship store is Zara, but it also owns the chains Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius a

1.
Inditex Global Presence

Zara (retailer)
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Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia. The company was founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera and it is the main brand of the Inditex group, the worlds largest apparel retailer. The fashion group also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Amanci

Mark Zuckerberg
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Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is the chairman, chief officer, and co-founder of Facebook. His net worth is estimated to be US$58.6 billion as of March 2017, Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard University dormitory room on February 4,2004. He was assisted by his roommates and fellow

Facebook
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Facebook is an American for-profit corporation and an online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park, California. Facebook gradually added support for students at other universities. Since 2006, anyone age 13 and older has been allowed to become a user of Facebook, though variations exist in the minimum age requirement. The F

4.
Billboard on the Thomson Reuters building welcomes Facebook to NASDAQ, 2012

Grupo Carso
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Grupo Carso or Grupo Sanborns SAB is a global conglomerate company owned by Carlos Slim. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of Corporación Industrial Carso, the name Carso stands for Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit de Slim, his late wife. In May 2014, the conglomerate had a market capitalisation of over $12 billion US dollars. In 1996 Carso Globa

1.
Grupo Carso S.A.B. de C.V.

Larry Ellison
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Lawrence Joseph Larry Ellison is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is co-founder of Oracle Corporation and was CEO from its founding until September 2014. He is the chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle. As of February 2017, he was listed by Forbes magazine as the fifth-wealthiest person in America and as the s

Oracle Corporation
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Oracle Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation, headquartered in Redwood Shores, California. In 2015 Oracle was the second-largest software maker by revenue, after Microsoft, larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 with Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories. Ellison took inspirati

Koch Industries
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/ˈkoʊk/ is an American multinational corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, United States, with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, trading, and investments. It was founded as Wood River Oil and Refining Company in 1940, Koch also owns Invista, Georgia-Pacific, Molex, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals, Matador

1.
Koch Industries, Inc.

David H. Koch
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David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He joined the family business Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the United States and he became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979, and became a co-owner of Koch Industries,

1.
Koch in 2015

Michael Bloomberg
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Michael Rubens Mike Bloomberg is an American businessman, author, politician, and philanthropist. His net worth is estimated at US$47.5 billion, as of March 2017, ranking him as the 8th richest person in the United States, Bloomberg is the founder, CEO, and owner of Bloomberg L. P. He began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers, b

1.
Michael Bloomberg

2.
Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV), Ray Mabus with Bloomberg

3.
Bloomberg delivering a speech

Bloomberg L.P.
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Bloomberg L. P. is a privately held financial software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Bloomberg L. P. was founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981 with the help of Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, in 1981, Salomon Brothers was acquired, and Michael Bloomberg, a general partner, was given a $1

2.
Guy Turner, director of Carbon Markets Research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance

David Koch
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David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He joined the family business Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the United States and he became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979, and became a co-owner of Koch Industries,

1.
Koch in 2015

Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety

Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular

India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to

3.
Writing the will and testament of the Mughal king court in Persian, 1590–1595

Evan Spiegel
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Evan Thomas Spiegel is an American Internet entrepreneur. Evan was born in Los Angeles, California, to Melissa Ann Thomas and John W. Spiegel, Spiegel grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. He was educated at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, Spiegel took design classes at the Otis College of Art and Design while still

1.
Spiegel in 2013

Snapchat
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One of the principal concepts of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are only available for a short time before they become inaccessible. The prototype for Snapchat was started by Brown and Spiegel as a project for one of Spiegels classes at Stanford, beginning as Picaboo, the idea was to create a selfie app which allowed users to share images t

1.
Snapchat Logo on iOS 8 and Android

David Rockefeller
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David Rockefeller was an American banker who was chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family and family patriarch from August 2004 until his death in March 2017, Rockefeller was a son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and a grandson of John D. Rockefel

3.
David Rockefeller launches IESC in White House Rose Garden in 1964.

Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plate

1.
Norsemen Landing in Iceland – a 19th Century depiction by Oscar Wergeland.

Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becom

3.
The Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado led the initial Spanish efforts to conquer Guatemala.

4.
Criollos rejoice upon learning about the declaration of independence from Spain on September 15, 1821.

Telmex
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Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional telephone service, Telmex offers Internet access, data, hosted services. Telmex owns 90 percent of the lines in Mexico City and 80 percent of the lines in the country. Telmex is an owned subsidiary of América Móvil. Telmex was founded in 1947 when a group of

1.
Forbes
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Forbes is an American business magazine. Published bi-weekly, it features articles on finance, industry, investing. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, politics and its headquarters is located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Primary competitors in the business magazine category include Fortune and Bloomberg Businessweek. The magazine is known for its lists and rankings, including its lists of the richest Americans. Another well-known list by the magazine is The Worlds Billionaires list, the motto of Forbes magazine is The Capitalist Tool. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes, and its CEO is Mike Perlis, Forbes, a financial columnist for the Hearst papers, and his partner Walter Drey, the general manager of the Magazine of Wall Street, founded Forbes magazine on September 15,1917. Forbes provided the money and the name and Drey provided the publishing expertise, the original name of the magazine was Forbes, Devoted to Doers and Doings. Drey became vice-president of the B. C. Forbes Publishing Company, while B. C. Forbes became editor-in-chief, B. C. Forbes was assisted in his later years by his two eldest sons, Bruce Charles Forbes and Malcolm Stevenson Forbes. Bruce Forbes took over on his fathers death, and his strengths lay in streamlining operations, during his tenure, 1954–1964, the magazines circulation nearly doubled. On Malcolms death, his eldest son Malcolm Stevenson Steve Forbes Jr. became President and Chief Executive of Forbes, between 1961 and 1999 the magazine was edited by James Michaels. In 1993, under Michaels, Forbes was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. com, a 2009 New York Times report said,40 percent of the enterprise was sold. For a reported $300 million, setting the value of the enterprise at $750 million, according to Mark M. Edmiston of AdMedia Partners, Its probably not worth half of that now. The companys headquarters moved to the Newport section of downtown Jersey City. In November 2013, Forbes Media, which publishes Forbes magazine, was put up for sale and this was encouraged by Elevation Partners, of whom were minority shareholders. Sales documents prepared by Deutsche Bank revealed that the publishers 2012 EBITDA was $15 million, Forbes reportedly sought a price of $400 million. In July 2014, Forbes sold a majority of itself to Integrated Whale Media Investments, Steve Forbes and his magazines writers offer investment advice on the weekly Fox TV show Forbes on Fox and on Forbes On Radio. Other company groups include Forbes Conference Group, Forbes Investment Advisory Group, from the 2009 Times report, Steve Forbes recently returned from opening up a Forbes magazine in India, bringing the number of foreign editions to 10

2.
Bill Gates
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William Henry Bill Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, author, and philanthropist. In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft, which became the worlds largest PC software company, during his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, and was the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. Gates has authored and co-authored several books, since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the worlds wealthiest people and was the wealthiest from 1995 to 2007, again in 2009, and has been since 2014. Between 2009 and 2014, his wealth doubled from US$40 billion to more than US$82 billion, between 2013 and 2014, his wealth increased by US$15 billion. Gates is currently the richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$85.6 billion as of February 2017. Gates is one of the entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. He has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief architect for himself. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work and he gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014, taking on a new post as adviser to support the then newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella. Gates was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28,1955 and he is the son of William H. Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates. His ancestry includes English, German, Irish, and Scots-Irish and his father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates maternal grandfather was JW Maxwell, a bank president. Gates has one sister, Kristi, and one younger sister. He is the fourth of his name in his family, but is known as William Gates III or Trey because his father had the II suffix, early on in his life, Gates parents had a law career in mind for him. When Gates was young, his family attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches. The family encouraged competition, one reported that it didnt matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock. There was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing, at 13, he enrolled in the Lakeside School, a private preparatory school

3.
1000000000 (number)
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1,000,000,000 is the natural number following 999,999,999 and preceding 1,000,000,001. One billion can also be written as b or bn, in scientific notation, it is written as 1 ×109. The SI prefix giga indicates 1,000,000,000 times the base unit, one billion years may be called eon in astronomy and geology. Previously in British English, the word billion referred exclusively to a million millions, however, this is no longer as common as earlier, and the word has been used to mean one thousand million for some time. The alternative term one thousand million is used in the U. K. or countries such as Spain that uses one thousand million as one million million constitutes a billion. The worded figure, as opposed to the figure is used to differentiate between one thousand million or one billion. The term milliard can also be used to refer to 1,000,000,000, whereas milliard is seldom used in English, in the South Asian numbering system, it is known as 100 crore or 1 Arab. 1000000007 – smallest prime number with 10 digits,1023456789 – smallest pandigital number in base 10. 1026753849 – smallest pandigital square that includes 0,1073741824 –2301073807359 – 14th Kynea number. 1162261467 –3191220703125 –513 1232922769- 35113^2 Centered hexagonal number,1234567890 – pandigital number with the digits in order. 1882341361 – The least prime whose reversal is both square and triangular,1977326743 –7112147483647 – 8th Mersenne prime and the largest signed 32-bit integer. 2147483648 –2312176782336 –6122214502422 – 6th primary pseudoperfect number,2357947691 –1192971215073 – 11th Fibonacci prime. 3405691582 – hexadecimal CAFEBABE, used as a placeholder in programming,3405697037 – hexadecimal CAFED00D, used as a placeholder in programming. 3735928559 – hexadecimal DEADBEEF, used as a placeholder in programming,3486784401 –3204294836223 – 16th Carol number. 4294967291 – Largest prime 32-bit unsigned integer,4294967295 – Maximum 32-bit unsigned integer, perfect totient number, product of the five prime Fermat numbers. 4294967296 –2324294967297 – the first composite Fermat number,6103515625 –5146210001000 – only self-descriptive number in base 10. 6975757441 –1786983776800 – 15th colossally abundant number, 15th superior highly composite number 7645370045 – 27th Pell number,8589934592 –2339043402501 – 25th Motzkin number. 9814072356 – largest square pandigital number, largest pandigital pure power,9876543210 – largest number without redundant digits

1000000000 (number)
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Visualisation of powers of ten from one to 1 billion

4.
Orders of magnitude (numbers)
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This list contains selected positive numbers in increasing order, including counts of things, dimensionless quantity and probabilities. Mathematics – Writing, Approximately 10−183,800 is a rough first estimate of the probability that a monkey, however, taking punctuation, capitalization, and spacing into account, the actual probability is far lower, around 10−360,783. Computing, The number 1×10−6176 is equal to the smallest positive non-zero value that can be represented by a quadruple-precision IEEE decimal floating-point value, Computing, The number 6. 5×10−4966 is approximately equal to the smallest positive non-zero value that can be represented by a quadruple-precision IEEE floating-point value. Computing, The number 3. 6×10−4951 is approximately equal to the smallest positive non-zero value that can be represented by a 80-bit x86 double-extended IEEE floating-point value. Computing, The number 1×10−398 is equal to the smallest positive non-zero value that can be represented by a double-precision IEEE decimal floating-point value, Computing, The number 4. 9×10−324 is approximately equal to the smallest positive non-zero value that can be represented by a double-precision IEEE floating-point value. Computing, The number 1×10−101 is equal to the smallest positive non-zero value that can be represented by a single-precision IEEE decimal floating-point value, Mathematics, The probability in a game of bridge of all four players getting a complete suit is approximately 4. 47×10−28. ISO, yocto- ISO, zepto- Mathematics, The probability of matching 20 numbers for 20 in a game of keno is approximately 2.83 × 10−19. ISO, atto- Mathematics, The probability of rolling snake eyes 10 times in a row on a pair of dice is about 2. 74×10−16. ISO, micro- Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt a flush in poker are 649,739 to 1 against. Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt a flush in poker are 72,192 to 1 against. Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt a four of a kind in poker are 4,164 to 1 against, for a probability of 2.4 × 10−4. ISO, milli- Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt a full house in poker are 693 to 1 against, for a probability of 1.4 × 10−3. Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt a flush in poker are 507.8 to 1 against, Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt a straight in poker are 253.8 to 1 against, for a probability of 4 × 10−3. Physics, α =0.007297352570, the fine-structure constant, ISO, deci- Mathematics – Poker, The odds of being dealt only one pair in poker are about 5 to 2 against, for a probability of 0.42. Demography, The population of Monowi, a village in Nebraska. Mathematics, √2 ≈1.414213562373095489, the ratio of the diagonal of a square to its side length. Mathematics, φ ≈1.618033988749895848, the golden ratio Mathematics, the number system understood by most computers, human scale, There are 10 digits on a pair of human hands, and 10 toes on a pair of human feet. Mathematics, The number system used in life, the decimal system, has 10 digits,0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

5.
Mean (average)
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In mathematics and statistics, the arithmetic mean, or simply the mean or average when the context is clear, is the sum of a collection of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the collection. The collection is often a set of results of an experiment, the term arithmetic mean is preferred in some contexts in mathematics and statistics because it helps distinguish it from other means, such as the geometric mean and the harmonic mean. In addition to mathematics and statistics, the mean is used frequently in fields such as economics, sociology, and history. For example, per capita income is the average income of a nations population. While the arithmetic mean is used to report central tendencies, it is not a robust statistic. In a more obscure usage, any sequence of values that form a sequence between two numbers x and y can be called arithmetic means between x and y. The arithmetic mean is the most commonly used and readily understood measure of central tendency, in statistics, the term average refers to any of the measures of central tendency. The arithmetic mean is defined as being equal to the sum of the values of each. For example, let us consider the monthly salary of 10 employees of a firm,2500,2700,2400,2300,2550,2650,2750,2450,2600,2400. The arithmetic mean is 2500 +2700 +2400 +2300 +2550 +2650 +2750 +2450 +2600 +240010 =2530, If the data set is a statistical population, then the mean of that population is called the population mean. If the data set is a sample, we call the statistic resulting from this calculation a sample mean. The arithmetic mean of a variable is denoted by a bar, for example as in x ¯. The arithmetic mean has several properties that make it useful, especially as a measure of central tendency and these include, If numbers x 1, …, x n have mean x ¯, then + ⋯ + =0. The mean is the single number for which the residuals sum to zero. If the arithmetic mean of a population of numbers is desired, the arithmetic mean may be contrasted with the median. The median is defined such that half the values are larger than, and half are smaller than, If elements in the sample data increase arithmetically, when placed in some order, then the median and arithmetic average are equal. For example, consider the data sample 1,2,3,4, the average is 2.5, as is the median. However, when we consider a sample that cannot be arranged so as to increase arithmetically, such as 1,2,4,8,16, in this case, the arithmetic average is 6.2 and the median is 4

6.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci

7.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common

8.
Royal family
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A royal family is the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family. However, in common parlance members of any family which reigns by hereditary right are often referred to as royalty or royals and it is also customary in some circles to refer to the extended relations of a deposed monarch and his or her descendants as a royal family. A dynasty is referred to as the House of. As of July 2013, there are 26 active sovereign monarchies in the world who rule or reign over 43 countries in all, in some cases, royal family membership may extend to great grandchildren and more distant descendants of a monarch. In certain monarchies where voluntary abdication is the norm, such as the Netherlands, there is often a distinction between persons of the blood royal and those that marry into the royal family. In certain instances, such as in Canada, the family is defined by who holds the styles Majesty. Under most systems, only persons in the first category are dynasts and this is not always observed, some monarchies have operated by the principle of jure uxoris. In addition, certain relatives of the monarch possess special privileges and are subject to certain statutes, conventions, the precise functions of a royal family vary depending on whether the polity in question is an absolute monarchy, a constitutional monarchy, or somewhere in between. The specific composition of royal families varies from country to country, as do the titles and royal, the composition of the royal family may be regulated by statute enacted by the legislature, the sovereigns prerogative and common law tradition, or a private house law. Public statutes, constitutional provisions, or conventions may also regulate the marriages, names, the members of a royal family may or may not have a surname or dynastic name. Some countries have abolished royalty altogether, as in post-revolutionary France, whilst mediatization occurred in other countries such as France, Italy and Russia, only the certain houses within the former Holy Roman Empire are collectively called the Mediatized Houses

9.
Dictator
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A dictator is a political leader who wields absolute power. A state ruled by a dictator is called a dictatorship, the word originated as the title of a magistrate in the Roman Republic appointed by the Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency. Like the term tyrant, and to a lesser degree autocrat, dictator came to be used almost exclusively as a term for oppressive, even abusive rule. The term dictator is comparable to – but not synonymous with – the ancient concept of a tyrant, initially tyrant, like dictator and they may hold left or right-wing views, or may be apolitical. Originally an emergency appointment in the Roman Republic, the term Dictator did not have the negative meaning it has now. A Dictator was a magistrate given sole power for a limited duration, at the end of the term, the Dictators power returned to normal Consular rule whereupon a dictator provided accountability, though not all dictators accepted a return to power sharing. Following Julius assassination, his heir Augustus was offered the title of dictator, later successions also denied the title of dictator, with the usage of the title soon diminishing among Roman rulers. As late as the half of the 19th Century, the term Dictator had occasional positive implications. For example, when creating an executive in Sicily during the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860. Shortly afterwards, during the 1863 January Uprising in Poland, Dictator was also the title of four leaders. Past that time, however, Dictator assumed a negative connotation. In popular usage, dictatorship is often associated with brutality and oppression, as a result, it is often also used as a term of abuse for political opponents. The term has come to be associated with megalomania. Many dictators create a cult of personality and have come to favor increasingly grandiloquent titles, in the movie The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin satirized not only Adolf Hitler but the institution of dictatorship itself. The association between the dictator and the military is a one, many dictators take great pains to emphasize their connections with the military. In other cases, the association is mere pretense, because of the negative associations, modern leaders very rarely use the term in their formal titles. The Dictatorial Government of Sicily was an executive government appointed by Giuseppe Garibaldi to rule Sicily. The government ended when Sicilys annexation into the Kingdom of Italy was ratified by plebiscite, Poland Józef Chłopicki was styled Dictator from 5 December 1830 – December 1830 and again in December 1830 –25 January 1831 Jan Tyssowski was Dictator from 24 February 1846 –2 March 1846

10.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing

11.
Microsoft
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Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup, as of 2016, it was the worlds largest software maker by revenue, and one of the worlds most valuable companies. Microsoft was founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates on April 4,1975, to develop and it rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. The companys 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion, in June 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer production market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, a line of tablet computers. The word Microsoft is a portmanteau of microcomputer and software, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion for computer programming, sought to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. In 1972 they founded their first company, named Traf-O-Data, which offered a computer that tracked and analyzed automobile traffic data. Allen went on to pursue a degree in science at Washington State University. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systemss Altair 8800 microcomputer, Allen suggested that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device, after a call from Gates claiming to have a working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didnt actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter and they officially established Microsoft on April 4,1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the name of Micro-Soft, as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, the company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979. Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, however, it was MS-DOS that solidified the companys dominance. For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOSs available software selection, the company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as with a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing Hodgkins disease, while jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20,1985. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated, in 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office

Microsoft
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Front lobby entrance of building 17, one of the largest buildings on Microsoft's main campus in Redmond
Microsoft
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Paul Allen (l.) and Bill Gates (r.) on October 19, 1981, in a sea of PCs after signing a pivotal contract. IBM called Microsoft in July 1980 inquiring about programming languages for its upcoming PC line; after failed negotiations with another company, IBM gave Microsoft a contract to develop the OS for the new line of PCs.
Microsoft
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Bill Gates giving his deposition in 1998 for the United States v. Microsoft trial.
Microsoft
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In 1996, Microsoft released Windows CE, a version of the operating system meant for personal digital assistants and other tiny computers.

12.
Oxfam
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Oxfam is an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty. It was one of local committees formed in support of the National Famine Relief Committee. Their mission was to persuade the British government to allow food relief through the Allied blockade for the citizens of occupied Greece. The first overseas Oxfam was founded in Canada in 1963, the organization changed its name to its telegraph address, OXFAM, in 1965. By 1960, it was a major international aid organization. The name Oxfam comes from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, founded in Britain in 1942, Oxfam International was formed in 1995 by a group of independent non-governmental organizations. Their aim was to work together for greater impact on the stage to reduce poverty. Stichting Oxfam International registered as a foundation at The Hague. Oxfams first paid employee was Joe Mitty, who working at the Oxfam shop on Broad Street. Engaged to manage the accounts and distribute donated clothing, he originated the policy of selling anything which people were willing to donate, Oxfams programmes address the structural causes of poverty and related injustice and work primarily through local accountable organizations, seeking to enhance their effectiveness. In November 2000, Oxfam adopted the approach as the framework for all the work of the Confederation. The right to a sustainable livelihood, and the right and capacity to participate in societies and make changes to peoples lives are basic human needs. Though Oxfams initial concern was the provision of food to relieve famine, Oxfam works on trade justice, fair trade, education, debt and aid, livelihoods, health, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, conflict and natural disasters, democracy and human rights, and climate change. Through programmes like Saving for Change, Oxfam is working to help communities become more self-sufficient financially, the Saving for Change initiative is a programme whereby communities are taught how to form collective, informal credit groups. Ultimately, the goal of the programme is to leave the community with an organization where people who otherwise would not qualify for formal bank loans can go for financial assistance. In doing so, borrowers can start businesses which benefit not only themselves, the Bosfam NGO was also founded in May 1995 by women participating in an Oxfam GB psycho-social radionice project to support internally displaced women during the Bosnian war. Oxfam has become a recognized leader in providing water sanitation to impoverished. In 2012, Oxfam became one of the groups that comprise the UKs Rapid Response Facility to ensure clean water in the wake of humanitarian disasters

13.
Carlos Slim
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Carlos Slim Helú is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world and he derived his fortune from his extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso. As of 31 July 2016 he was #7 on Forbes listing of The Worlds Billionaires with a net worth estimated at more than $50 billion. He accounts for 40% of the listings on the Mexican Stock Exchange, Slim was born on January 28,1940, in Mexico City, to Julián Slim Haddad and Linda Helú Atta, both Maronite Catholics of Lebanese descent. Slim always knew he wanted to be a businessman, and he began to develop his business, at the age of 11, Carlos invested in a government savings bond that taught him about the concept of compound interest. He eventually saved every financial and business transaction he made into a ledger book which he keeps to this day. At the age of 12, he made his first stock purchase, by the age of 15, Slim had become a shareholder in Mexico’s largest bank. At the age of 17, he earned 200 pesos a week working for his fathers company and he went on to study civil engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, where he also concurrently taught algebra and linear programming. Though Slim was an engineering major because of his fascination with numbers. He took economics courses in Chile once he finished his engineering degree, after graduating from college in 1961, Slim began his career as a stock trader in Mexico, often working 14-hour days. In 1965, profits from Slims private investments reached US$400,000, in addition, he also began laying the financial groundwork for Grupo Carso. In 1965 he also bought Jarritos del Sur, in 1966, worth US$40 million, he founded Inmobiliaria Carso. Companies found within the construction, soft drink, printing, real estate, by 1972, he had established or acquired a further seven businesses in these categories, including one which rented construction equipment. In 1981, Slim acquired a majority stake in Cigarros la Tabacelera Mexicana, Mexicos second largest producer and marketer of cigarettes, in 1982, the Mexican economy contracted rapidly. As many banks were struggling and foreign investors were cutting back on investing and scurrying, Slim began investing heavily, buying troubled assets at depressed prices to resell them later at an attractive price is a business strategy that Slim has executed throughout his career. Having a keen investment eye for value, Slim adhered to his value investment practices with a history of buying stakes in companies he sees as undervalued. In addition, his conglomerate structure allows Slim to purchase numerous stakes that it is made nearly recession proof if one or more sectors of the economy do not do well. From the mid 1960s to the early 1980s, Slim and his family lived a modest life, while earnings from Slims many businesses were re-invested in expansion

Carlos Slim
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Carlos Slim, Chair of Grupo Carso, arriving in the Presidential Palace for a meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on October 24, 2007

14.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour —between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour

15.
Macau
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Macau, also spelled Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north, Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a population of 650,900 living in an area of 30.5 km2, Macau was administered by the Portuguese Empire and its inheritor states from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it constituted the last remaining European colony in Asia. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s, in 1557, Macau was leased to Portugal from Ming China as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and Macau Basic Law stipulate that Macau operate with a degree of autonomy until at least 2049. Macau participates in international organizations and events that do not require members to national sovereignty. Macau is a city in Southern China, known for its casinos. Its gaming revenue has been the worlds largest since 2006, with the heavily dependent on gaming. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the present Chinese name means Inlet Gates. Macau is otherwise known in Chinese as Haojing or Jinghai, the name Macau is thought to be derived from the A-Ma Temple, a temple built in 1448 dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau. The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin dynasty, the first recorded Chinese inhabitants of the area were people seeking refuge in Macau from invading Mongols during the Southern Song. Under the Ming dynasty, fishermen migrated to Macau from Guangdong, the Macau native people were Tanka boat people. Macau did not develop as a settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In 1513, Jorge Álvares became the first Portuguese to land in China, in 1535, Portuguese traders obtained the rights to anchor ships in Macaus harbours and to carry out trading activities, though not the right to stay onshore. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, the Portuguese continued to pay an annual tribute up to 1863 in order to stay in Macau. By 1564, Portugal commanded western trade with India, Japan, but their pride was damaged by the indifference with which the Chinese treated them

Macau
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Portuguese coin (minted 1996) commemorating the arrival of the Portuguese in China in 1513
Macau
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Flag
Macau
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Ruins of St. Paul's, by George Chinnery (1774–1852). The church was built in 1602 and destroyed by fire in 1835. Only the southern stone façade remains today.
Macau
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Macau, c. 1870.

16.
USD
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common

17.
Citizenship
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Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless. Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although the term is understood as denoting a persons membership of a nation. In some countries, e. g. the United States, each country has its own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to its citizenship. A person can be recognised or granted citizenship on a number of bases, usually citizenship based on the place of birth is automatic, in other cases an application may be required. If one or both of a persons parents are citizens of a state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. Formerly this might only have applied through the line. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in China, where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally limit the right to citizenship by descent to a number of generations born outside the state. This form of citizenship is not common in civil law countries, Some people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch, in many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold, citizenship either by place or parentage. Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen, States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as color, ethnicity, sex. Most of these no longer apply in most places. The United States grants citizenship to those born as a result of reproductive technologies, Some exclusions still persist for internationally adopted children born before Feb 27,1983 even though their parents meet citizenship criteria. Polis meant both the assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society. Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon, there is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny

Citizenship
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Legal status of persons
Citizenship
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Geoffrey Hosking suggests that fear of being enslaved was a central motivating force for the development of the Greek sense of citizenship. Sculpture: a Greek woman being served by a slave-child.
Citizenship
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Diagram of relationship between; Citizens, Politicians + Laws

18.
Warren Buffett
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Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is considered by some to be one of the most successful investors in the world and he attended New York Institute of Finance to specialize his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. After meeting Charlie Munger, Buffett created the Buffett Partnership and his firm would eventually acquire a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assume its name to create a diversified holding company. He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth, Buffett is a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska and he was the second of three children and the only son of Leila and Congressman Howard Buffett, Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, after finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business, but was overruled by his father. Buffett displayed an interest in business and investing at a young age, much of Buffetts early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. One of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles and he worked in his grandfathers grocery store. While still in school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle, in 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha, the business was sold later in the year for $1,200 to a war veteran. Buffetts interest in the market and investing dated to schoolboy days he spent in the customers lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his fathers own brokerage office. On a trip to New York City at age ten, he made a point to visit the New York Stock Exchange, at 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett. At the age of 15, Warren made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers, in high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer. He bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings, by the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated $9,800 in savings. In 1947, Buffett entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and he would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, however, he enrolled due to pressure from his father. Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and he then transferred to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln where at 19, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there and he earned a Master of Science in Economics from Columbia in 1951

Warren Buffett
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Buffett speaking to students from the University of Kansas School of Business, May 6, 2005
Warren Buffett
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Buffett's home in Omaha
Warren Buffett
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Buffett and President Obama at the Oval Office, July 14, 2010

19.
Berkshire Hathaway
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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The company wholly owns GEICO, BNSF Railway, Lubrizol, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, FlightSafety International, Pampered Chef, and NetJets, and also owns 43. Berkshire Hathaway averaged a growth in book value of 19. 7% to its shareholders for the last 49 years, while employing large amounts of capital. In the early part of Buffetts career at Berkshire, he focused on investments in publicly traded companies. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list and formula, Berkshire Hathaway is the fourth largest public company in the world, Berkshire Hathaway traces its roots to a textile manufacturing company established by Oliver Chace in 1839 as the Valley Falls Company in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. Chace had previously worked for Samuel Slater, the founder of the first successful textile mill in America, Chace founded his first textile mill in 1806. In 1929 the Valley Falls Company merged with the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company established in 1889, in Adams, the combined company was known as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. Hathaway had been successful in its first decades, but it suffered during a decline in the textile industry after World War I. At this time, Hathaway was run by Seabury Stanton, whose investment efforts were rewarded with renewed profitability after the Depression, after the merger Berkshire Hathaway had 15 plants employing over 12,000 workers with over $120 million in revenue and was headquartered in New Bedford. However, seven of those locations were closed by the end of the decade, in 1962, Warren Buffett began buying stock in Berkshire Hathaway after noticing a pattern in the price direction of its stock whenever the company closed a mill. Eventually, Buffett acknowledged that the business was waning and the companys financial situation was not going to improve. In 1964, Stanton made a tender offer of $11 1⁄2 per share for the company to buy back Buffetts shares. A few weeks later, Warren Buffett received the offer in writing. Buffett later admitted that this lower, undercutting offer made him angry, instead of selling at the slightly lower price, Buffett decided to buy more of the stock to take control of the company and fire Stanton. However, this put Buffett in a situation where he was now majority owner of a business that was failing. Buffett initially maintained Berkshires core business of textiles, but by 1967, he was expanding into the insurance industry, Berkshire first ventured into the insurance business with the purchase of National Indemnity Company. In the late 1970s, Berkshire acquired an equity stake in the Government Employees Insurance Company, in 1985, the last textile operations were shut down. Buffett claimed that had he invested that money directly in insurance businesses instead of buying out Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshires class A shares sold for $258,000

20.
Jeff Bezos
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The company began as an Internet merchant of books and expanded to a wide variety of products and services, most recently video streaming and audio streaming. Amazon. com is currently the worlds largest Internet sales company on the World Wide Web, Bezos’s other diversified business interests include aerospace and newspapers. He is the founder and manufacturer of Blue Origin with test flights to space beginning in 2015, in 2013, Bezos purchased The Washington Post newspaper. A number of other investments are managed through Bezos Expeditions. Bezos is currently the second-richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$77.1 billion as of March 2017. His rise to this occurred after Amazon registered a 67% jump in share price. Bezos was born Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen to Jacklyn and Ted Jorgensen in Albuquerque and his maternal ancestors were settlers who lived in Texas, and over the generations acquired a 25, 000-acre ranch near Cotulla. As of March 2015, Bezos was among the largest landholders in Texas, Bezos’s maternal grandfather was a regional director of the U. S. He retired early to the ranch, where Bezos spent many summers as a youth, at an early age, he displayed mechanical aptitude—as a toddler, he even dismantled his crib with a screwdriver. Bezos’s mother Jacklyn was a teenager at the time of his birth and her marriage to Jorgensen lasted a little more than a year. In April 1968 she married her husband, Miguel Bezos. His family was originally from Valladolid, Miguel Bezos worked his way through the University of Albuquerque, married Jacklyn, and legally adopted his stepson Jeff, who changed his surname from Jorgensen to Bezos. After the wedding the family moved to Houston and Miguel worked as an engineer for Exxon, the young Jeff attended River Oaks Elementary School in Houston from fourth to sixth grade. As a child, he spent summers working on his grandfathers ranch in southern Texas, Bezos often displayed scientific interests and technological proficiency, he once rigged an electric alarm to keep his younger siblings out of his room. The family moved to Miami, Florida, where he attended Miami Palmetto High School, while in high school, he attended the Student Science Training Program at the University of Florida, receiving a Silver Knight Award in 1982. He was high school valedictorian and was a National Merit Scholar, Bezos graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with bachelor of science degrees in electrical engineering and computer science. While at Princeton, he was elected to Tau Beta Pi. He served as the president of the Princeton chapter of the Students for the Exploration, in 2016 Bezos played a Starfleet official in the movie Star Trek Beyond, later joining the cast and crew at a San Diego Comic-Con screening

Jeff Bezos
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Bezos at the ENCORE awards in 2010

21.
Amazon.com
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Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the worlds largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. Amazon also sells certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics. Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to other countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language versions of the German Amazon website were launched. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, in 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co. a Wall Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a plan for what would eventually become Amazon. com. Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra on July 5,1994, Bezos changed the name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as cadaver. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless. com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, the domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The company went online as Amazon. com in 1995, Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, Theres nothing about our model that cant be copied over time. But you know, McDonalds got copied, and it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name, brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world. Additionally, a beginning with A was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Since June 19,2000, Amazons logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow shaped like a smile. After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web commerce growth at 2, 300% and he narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products, which included, compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos and books. Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos home in Bellevue, the company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with John Ingram of Ingram Book, along with Keyur Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at wholesale from Ingram, in the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50 states and over 45 countries

22.
Amancio Ortega
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Amancio Ortega Gaona is a Spanish business tycoon. He is the founder and former chairman of Inditex fashion group, best known for its chain of Zara clothing and accessories retail shops. According to Forbes Magazine, he is currently the richest person in Europe and was, until March 2017 and he left school and moved to A Coruña at the age of 14, due to the job of his father, a railway worker. Shortly after, he found a job as a hand for a local shirtmaker called Gala, which still sits on the same corner in downtown A Coruña. In 1972, he founded Confecciones Goa, selling quilted bathrobes which Ortega produced using thousands of local women organised into sewing cooperatives, in 1975, he opened his first Zara store with his wife Rosalía Mera, so called because his preferred name Zorba was already taken. Ortega keeps a low profile and is known for his preference for a simple lifestyle. Until 1999, no photograph of Ortega had ever been published and he refuses to wear a tie and typically wears a simple uniform of a blue blazer, white shirt, and gray trousers, none of which are Zara products. He is said to take an active part in the production. When he made a appearance in 2000 as part of the warm-up prior to his companys initial public offering on the stock market in 2001. However, he has ever granted interviews to three journalists and his secrecy has led to the publication of books, such as Amancio Ortega. In 2012 Ortega donated about 20 million euros to Caritas Internationalis, List of billionaires List of Spanish billionaires by net worth Blanco, Xabier, Salgado, Jesús. Amancio Ortega, de cero a Zara, El primer libro de investigación sobre el imperio Inditex, Amancio Ortega Gaona at Forbes Amancio Ortega Gaona at Bloomberg L. P

Amancio Ortega
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Amancio Ortega

23.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth

24.
Inditex
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Industria de Diseño Textil, S. A. is a Spanish multinational clothing company headquartered in Arteixo, Galicia. Inditex, the biggest fashion group in the world, operates over 7,200 stores in 93 markets worldwide, the companys flagship store is Zara, but it also owns the chains Zara Home, Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, Pull and Bear, Stradivarius and Uterqüe. The majority of its stores are corporate-owned, while franchises are mainly conceded in countries where corporate properties can not be foreign-owned, in Zara stores, it can take a new garment as little as 15 days to go from design and production to store shelves. In the early 1960s, Amancio Ortega got his start in the industry as a teen while working for a local shirt maker in A Coruna. Ortega began developing his own designs and he and his wife, Rosalia Mera, Ortega had saved up enough money to open a small factory and sold garments to his former employer amongst others. In 1975, the couple opened their first store, Zara, the following year, Zara was incorporated and began opening more stores and factories in Spain. Later that year, after Ortega noticed the importance of computers. In the 1980s the company implemented a new design and distribution method that drastically reduced the time design, production, and arrival at retail sites. The system was designed by Castellano who became the CEO of the company in 1984, in 1985, Industria de Diseno Textil S. A. or Inditex was created as a holding company for Zara and its manufacturing plants. In 1988, the company began expanding internationally with the opening a Zara store in Oporto, in 1990, the company owned footwear collection, Tempe, populated in the childrens section of Zara stores. In 1991, Inditex created the company Pull and Bear, a menswear company. Later that year, the company acquired a 65 percent share in the upscale Massimo Dutti brand. Inditex created Lefties in 1993, the name is taken from the term leftovers, in 1995, Inditex purchased the remaining Massimo Dutti shares and began expanding the brand to include a womens line. In 1998, Inditex launched the Bershka brand that was aimed at urban hip fashion, the company bought the Stradivarius in 1999, a youthful female fashion brand. Inditex had its public offering in 2001, on the Bolsa de Madrid. The IPO sold 26 percent of the company to public investors, the same year, the company launched the lingerie and womens clothing store Oysho. In 2003, Inditex launched the Zara Home brand, which offers bedding, cutlery, glassware, in 2004, with the opening of store number 2,000 in Hong Kong, Inditex had established its presence in 56 countries. In 2005, CEO Jose Maria Castellano stepped down from the position to oversee expansion plans, Inditex launched Uterque in the summer of 2008, the brand specializes in womens accessories

Inditex
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Inditex Global Presence

25.
Zara (retailer)
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Zara is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Arteixo, Galicia. The company was founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalía Mera and it is the main brand of the Inditex group, the worlds largest apparel retailer. The fashion group also owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home, Amancio Ortega opened the first Zara store in 1975 in downtown A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. It is believed the extra a came from a set of letters that had been made for the company. The first store featured low-priced lookalike products of popular, higher-end clothing fashions, Ortega opened additional stores throughout Spain. During the 1980s, Ortega changed the design, manufacturing, and distribution process to reduce lead times and react to new trends in a quicker way, the improvements included the use of information technologies and using groups of designers instead of individuals. In 1988, the company started its expansion through Porto. In 1989, it entered the United States, and then France in 1990, during the 1990s, Zara expanded to Mexico, Greece, Belgium and Sweden. In September 2010, Zara launched its online boutique, the website began in Spain, the UK, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France. In November that same year, Zara Online extended the service to five countries, Austria, Ireland. Online stores began operating in the United States in 2011, Russia and Canada in 2013, and Mexico, Romania, Zara introduced the use of RFID technology in its stores in 2014. The RFID chips are located in the security tags which are removed from clothing when it is purchased, the chip allows the company to quickly take inventory by detecting radio signals from the RFID tags. When an item is sold, the stockroom is immediately notified so that the item can be replaced, an item that is not on the shelf can easily be found with the RFID tag. In 2015, Zara was ranked 30 on Interbrands list of best global brands, Zara stores have mens clothing and womens clothing, as well as childrens clothing. Zaras products are supplied based on consumer trends and its highly responsive supply chain ships new products to stores twice a week. After products are designed, they take ten to fifteen days to reach the stores, all of the clothing is processed through the distribution center in Spain. New items are inspected, sorted, tagged, and loaded into trucks, in most cases, the clothing is delivered within 48 hours. Zara produces over 450 million items per year, reportedly, Zara needs just one week to develop a new product and get it to stores, compared to the six-month industry average, and launches around 12,000 new designs each year

26.
Mark Zuckerberg
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Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is the chairman, chief officer, and co-founder of Facebook. His net worth is estimated to be US$58.6 billion as of March 2017, Zuckerberg launched Facebook from his Harvard University dormitory room on February 4,2004. He was assisted by his roommates and fellow Harvard students Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz. The group then introduced Facebook to other college campuses, Facebook expanded rapidly, reaching one billion users by 2012. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg was involved in legal disputes brought by others in the group. On December 1,2015, they announced they would eventually give 99 percent of their Facebook shares to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Since 2010, Time magazine has named Zuckerberg among the 100 wealthiest and most influential people in the world as a part of its Person of the Year award, in December 2016, Zuckerberg was ranked 10th on Forbes list of The Worlds Most Powerful People. According to Forbes Magazine, Zuckerberg has a net worth of US$55.9 billion as of February 2017, Zuckerberg was born in 1984 in White Plains, New York. He is the son of Karen, a psychiatrist, and Edward Zuckerberg and his ancestors came from Germany, Austria and Poland. He and his three sisters, Randi, Donna, and Arielle, were brought up in Dobbs Ferry, New York, Zuckerberg was raised Jewish and had his bar mitzvah when he turned 13. At Ardsley High School, Zuckerberg excelled in classes and he transferred to the exclusive private school Phillips Exeter Academy, in New Hampshire, in his junior year, where he won prizes in science and classical studies. On his college application, Zuckerberg claimed that he could read and write French, Hebrew, Latin and he was captain of the fencing team. Zuckerberg began using computers and writing software in middle school and his father taught him Atari BASIC Programming in the 1990s, and later hired software developer David Newman to tutor him privately. Newman calls him a prodigy, adding that it was tough to stay ahead of him, Zuckerberg took a graduate course in the subject at Mercy College near his home while still in high school. He enjoyed developing computer programs, especially communication tools and games and it is considered a primitive version of AOLs Instant Messenger, which came out the following year. According to writer Jose Antonio Vargas, some kids played computer games, Zuckerberg himself recalls this period, I had a bunch of friends who were artists. Theyd come over, draw stuff, and Id build an out of it

27.
Facebook
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Facebook is an American for-profit corporation and an online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park, California. Facebook gradually added support for students at other universities. Since 2006, anyone age 13 and older has been allowed to become a user of Facebook, though variations exist in the minimum age requirement. The Facebook name comes from the face book directories often given to United States university students, Facebook may be accessed by a large range of desktops, laptops, tablet computers, and smartphones over the Internet and mobile networks. After registering to use the site, users can create a user profile indicating their name, occupation, schools attended and so on. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups organized by workplace, school, hobbies or other topics, in groups, editors can pin posts to top. Additionally, users can complain about or block unpleasant people, because of the large volume of data that users submit to the service, Facebook has come under scrutiny for its privacy policies. Facebook makes most of its revenue from advertisements which appear onscreen, Facebook, Inc. held its initial public offering in February 2012, and began selling stock to the public three months later, reaching an original peak market capitalization of $104 billion. On July 13,2015, Facebook became the fastest company in the Standard & Poors 500 Index to reach a market cap of $250 billion, Facebook has more than 1.86 billion monthly active users as of December 31,2016. As of April 2016, Facebook was the most popular social networking site in the world, Facebook classifies users from the ages of 13 to 18 as minors and therefore sets their profiles to share content with friends only. Zuckerberg wrote a program called Facemash on October 28,2003 while attending Harvard University as a sophomore, to accomplish this, Zuckerberg hacked into protected areas of Harvards computer network and copied private dormitory ID images. Facemash attracted 450 visitors and 22,000 photo-views in its first four hours online, the site was quickly forwarded to several campus group list-servers, but was shut down a few days later by the Harvard administration. Zuckerberg faced expulsion and was charged by the administration with breach of security, violating copyrights, Zuckerberg expanded on this initial project that semester by creating a social study tool ahead of an art history final exam. He uploaded 500 Augustan images to a website, each of which was featured with a corresponding comments section and he shared the site with his classmates, and people started sharing notes. The following semester, Zuckerberg began writing code for a new website in January 2004 and he said that he was inspired by an editorial about the Facemash incident in The Harvard Crimson. On February 4,2004, Zuckerberg launched Thefacebook, originally located at thefacebook. com. com and they claimed that he was instead using their ideas to build a competing product. The three complained to The Harvard Crimson and the newspaper began an investigation and they later filed a lawsuit against Zuckerberg, subsequently settling in 2008 for 1.2 million shares. Membership was initially restricted to students of Harvard College, within the first month, eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes joined Zuckerberg to help promote the website

28.
Grupo Carso
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Grupo Carso or Grupo Sanborns SAB is a global conglomerate company owned by Carlos Slim. It was formed in 1990 after the merger of Corporación Industrial Carso, the name Carso stands for Carlos Slim and Soumaya Domit de Slim, his late wife. In May 2014, the conglomerate had a market capitalisation of over $12 billion US dollars. In 1996 Carso Global Telecom separated itself from Grupo Carso, condumex Grupo Porcelanite Cigatam Minera Frisco Grupo Sanborns Sears CompUSA Mixup Grupo PC Constructores Swecomex CICSA CILSA Carso Global Telecom Official site

Grupo Carso
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Grupo Carso S.A.B. de C.V.

29.
Larry Ellison
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Lawrence Joseph Larry Ellison is an American businessman, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who is co-founder of Oracle Corporation and was CEO from its founding until September 2014. He is the chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle. As of February 2017, he was listed by Forbes magazine as the fifth-wealthiest person in America and as the seventh-wealthiest in the world, Ellison was born in New York City but grew up in Chicago. He studied at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and the University of Chicago without graduating before moving to California in 1966. While working at Ampex in the early 1970s, he became influenced by Edgar F. Codds research on relational database design, Ellison has donated up to 1% of his wealth to charity and has signed The Giving Pledge. In addition to his work at Oracle, Ellison has had success in yachting and he is a licensed aircraft pilot who owns two military jets. Larry Ellison was born in New York City, to an unwed Jewish mother and his biological father was an Italian American United States Army Air Corps pilot. After Ellison contracted pneumonia at the age of nine months, his mother gave him to her aunt and he did not meet his biological mother again until he was 48. Ellison moved to Chicagos South Shore, a middle-class neighborhood, louis Ellison was a government employee who had made a small fortune in Chicago real estate, only to lose it during the Great Depression. Although Ellison was raised in a Reform Jewish home by his adoptive parents, Ellison states, While I think I am religious in one sense, the particular dogmas of Judaism are not dogmas I subscribe to. I dont believe that they are real, theyre interesting mythology, and I certainly respect people who believe these are literally true, but I dont. I see no evidence for this stuff, at age thirteen, Ellison refused to have a bar mitzvah celebration. Ellison says that his affair with Israel is not connected to religious sentiments. Ellison left the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign after his year, not taking his final exams. After spending a summer in Northern California, he attended the University of Chicago for one term, in 1966, aged 22, he moved to Northern California. During the 1970s, after a stint at Amdahl Corporation, Ellison began working for Ampex Corporation. His projects included a database for the CIA, which he named Oracle, Ellison was inspired by a paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database systems called A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks. In 1977, he founded Software Development Laboratories with two partners and an investment of $2,000, $1,200 of the money was his

30.
Oracle Corporation
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Oracle Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation, headquartered in Redwood Shores, California. In 2015 Oracle was the second-largest software maker by revenue, after Microsoft, larry Ellison co-founded Oracle Corporation in 1977 with Bob Miner and Ed Oates under the name Software Development Laboratories. Ellison took inspiration from the 1970 paper written by Edgar F. Codd on relational database management systems named A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks and he heard about the IBM System R database from an article in the IBM Research Journal provided by Oates. Also derived from Codds theories, Ellison wanted to make Oracles product compatible with System R, SDL changed its name to Relational Software, Inc in 1979, then again to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982, to align itself more closely with its flagship product Oracle Database. At this stage Bob Miner served as the senior programmer. In 1995, Oracle Systems Corporation changed its name to Oracle Corporation, officially named Oracle, but sometimes referred to as Oracle Corporation, part of Oracle Corporations early success arose from using the C programming language to implement its products. This eased porting to different operating systems, many of the products have been added to Oracles portfolio through acquisitions. Oracles E-delivery service provides generic downloadable Oracle software and documentation, Oracle Database Release 10, In 2004, Oracle Corporation shipped release 10g as the then latest version of Oracle Database. Release 11, Release 11g became the current Oracle Database version in 2007, Oracle Corporation released Oracle Database 11g Release 2 in September 2009. This version was available in four commercial editions—Enterprise Edition, Standard Edition, Standard Edition One, the licensing of these editions shows various restrictions and obligations that are considered complex. The Enterprise Edition, the most expensive of the Database Editions, has the fewest restrictions —, Oracle Corporation constrains the Standard Edition and Standard Edition One with more licensing restrictions, in accordance with their lower price. Release 12, Release 12c became available on July 1,2013, Oracle acquired Rdb in 1994 from Digital Equipment Corporation. Oracle has since made many enhancements to product and development continues as of 2008. Released in 2008, the Oracle Beehive collaboration software provides team workspaces, email, calendar, instant messaging, customers can use Beehive as licensed software or as software as a service. Oracle also sells a suite of business applications, users can access these facilities through a browser interface over the Internet or via a corporate intranet. The Social Engagement and Monitoring cloud provides the most effective and efficient responses across social, SEM is able to route correct responses to the right team, member, or customer-experience channel to ensure the best customer service. The analysis helps vendors to understand what is important to customers and it identifies trends, spikes, and anomalies to make real-time course corrections. It also can identify brand advocates, the SEM cloud identifies customer intention and interests by analyzing the common ways customers talk about a product or a service

31.
Koch Industries
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/ˈkoʊk/ is an American multinational corporation based in Wichita, Kansas, United States, with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, trading, and investments. It was founded as Wood River Oil and Refining Company in 1940, Koch also owns Invista, Georgia-Pacific, Molex, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals, Matador Cattle Company and recently Guardian Industries. The firm employs about 60,000 people in the United States, in 2013–2015, Forbes listed it as the second largest privately held company in the United States, with an annual revenue of $115 billion, down from the largest in 2006. If Koch Industries were a company in 2013, it would have ranked 17 in the Fortune 500. Koch, after whom Koch Industries, Inc. is named, co-founded the company in 1940, Charles and David Koch each own 42% of Koch Industries. Charles has stated that the company would go public over my dead body, in 1925, Fred C. Koch joined MIT classmate Lewis E. Winkler at an engineering firm in Wichita, Kansas, which was renamed the Winkler-Koch Engineering Company. In 1927, they developed an efficient thermal cracking process for turning crude oil into gasoline. This process threatened the competitive advantage of established oil companies, which sued for patent infringement, temporarily forced out of business in the United States, they turned to other markets, including the Soviet Union, where Winkler-Koch built 15 cracking units between 1929 and 1932. During this time, Koch came to despise communism and Joseph Stalins regime, in his 1960 book, A Business Man Looks at Communism, Koch wrote that he found the USSR to be a land of hunger, misery, and terror. According to Charles Koch, Virtually every engineer he worked with was purged, in 1940, Koch joined new partners to create a new firm, the Wood River Oil and Refining Company, which is today known as Koch Industries. In 1946 the firm acquired the Rock Island refinery and crude oil gathering system near Duncan, Wood River was later renamed the Rock Island Oil & Refining Company. Charles Koch joined Rock Island in 1961, having started his career at the management consulting firm Arthur D. Little and he became president in 1966 and chairman at age 32, upon his fathers death the following year. The company was renamed Koch Industries in 1968 in honor of Fred Koch, at that time, it was primarily an engineering firm with part interest in the Pine Bend Refinery in Minnesota, a crude oil-gathering system in Oklahoma, and some cattle ranches. When Marshall discovered this he threw his lot in with Koch, they acquired a majority interest in the company. Ownership of Pine Bend refinery led to new businesses and capabilities, including chemicals, fibers, polymers, asphalt and other commodities such as petroleum coke. These were followed by global commodity trading, gas processing, real estate, pulp and paper, risk management. In 1970, Charles was joined at the firm by his brother David Koch. Having started as a services manager, David became president of Koch Engineering in 1979

Koch Industries
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Koch Industries, Inc.

32.
David H. Koch
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David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He joined the family business Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the United States and he became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979, and became a co-owner of Koch Industries, with older brother Charles, in 1983. He is now a vice president. He was the 1980 candidate for Vice President of the United States from the United States Libertarian Party and he founded Citizens for a Sound Economy. He and his brother Charles have donated to political groups and to political campaigns. Condé Nast Portfolio described him as one of the most generous, Koch has contributed to several charities including Lincoln Center, Sloan Kettering, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the Dinosaur Wing at the American Museum of Natural History. The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the New York City Ballet was renamed the David H. Koch Theater in 2008 following a gift of 100 million dollars for the renovation of the theater. Koch is the fourth richest person in America as of 2012, and he is the ninth-wealthiest person in the world, as of 2014. He is a survivor of the USAir Flight 1493 crash in 1991, Koch was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Mary Clementine and Fred Chase Koch, a chemical engineer. Davids paternal grandfather, Harry Koch, was a Dutch immigrant who founded the Quanah Tribune-Chief newspaper and was a shareholder of Quanah, Acme. David is the third of four sons, with elder brothers Frederick R. Koch, Charles Koch, among his maternal great-great-grandparents were William Ingraham Kip, an Episcopalian bishop, William Burnet Kinney, a politician, and Elizabeth Clementine Stedman, a writer. Koch attended the Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, graduating in 1959 and he went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning both a bachelors and a masters degree in chemical engineering. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Koch played basketball at MIT, averaging 21 points per game at MIT over three years, a school record. He also held the scoring record of 41 points from 1962 until 2009. In 1970, Koch joined Koch Industries under his brother Charles and he founded the company’s New York office and in 1979 he became the president of his own division, Koch Engineering, renamed Chemical Technology Group. In 1985, Koch Industries was sued by Bill Koch and Frederick R. Koch for the first time in a series of lawsuits about ownership. As of 2010, David Koch owned 42 percent of Koch Industries, Koch was the Libertarian Partys vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark. S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE

David H. Koch
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Koch in 2015

33.
Michael Bloomberg
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Michael Rubens Mike Bloomberg is an American businessman, author, politician, and philanthropist. His net worth is estimated at US$47.5 billion, as of March 2017, ranking him as the 8th richest person in the United States, Bloomberg is the founder, CEO, and owner of Bloomberg L. P. He began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers, before forming his own company in 1981 and spending the twenty years as its chairman. Bloomberg also served as chairman of the board of trustees at his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg served as the 108th Mayor of New York City, holding office for three consecutive terms, beginning with his first election in 2001. A Democrat before seeking office, Bloomberg switched his party registration in 2001 to run for Mayor as a Republican. He defeated opponent Mark Green in an election held just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He won a term in 2005, and left the Republican Party two years later. Bloomberg campaigned to change the term limits law, and was elected to his third term in 2009 as an Independent candidate on the Republican ballot line. Bloomberg was frequently mentioned as a candidate for the U. S. Presidential elections in 2008, and 2012, as well as for Governor of New York in 2010 and he declined to seek either office, opting to continue serving as the Mayor of New York City. On January 1,2014, Bill de Blasio succeeded Bloomberg as the Mayor of New York City, after a brief stint as a full-time philanthropist, Bloomberg re-assumed the position of CEO at Bloomberg L. P. by the end of 2014. Michael Bloomberg was born at St. Elizabeths Hospital, in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, on February 14,1942, Bloombergs father, William Henry Bloomberg, was a bookkeeper for a dairy company and the son of Alexander Elick Bloomberg, an immigrant from Russia. His mother, Charlotte Bloomberg, was a native of Jersey City and his maternal grandfather, Max Rubens, was an immigrant from present-day Belarus, then also part of Russia. Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University, where he joined the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi, in 1962, as a sophomore, he constructed the schools mascot, the blue jay. He graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, in 1966 he graduated from Harvard Business School as a Master of Business Administration. In 1973, Bloomberg became a partner at Salomon Brothers, a bulge-bracket Wall Street investment bank. In 1981, Salomon Brothers was bought by Phibro Corporation, and he was given no severance package, but owned $10 million worth of equity as a partner at the firm. Using this money, Bloomberg went on to set up a company named Innovative Market Systems, in 1982, Merrill Lynch became the new companys first customer, installing 22 of the companys Market Master terminals and investing $30 million in the company

34.
Bloomberg L.P.
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Bloomberg L. P. is a privately held financial software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Bloomberg L. P. was founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981 with the help of Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, in 1981, Salomon Brothers was acquired, and Michael Bloomberg, a general partner, was given a $10 million partnership settlement. Bloomberg, having designed in-house computerized financial systems for Salomon, used his $10 million severance check to start Innovative Market Systems, Bloomberg developed and built his own computerized system to provide real-time market data, financial calculations and other financial analytics to Wall Street firms. In 1983, Merrill Lynch invested $30 million in IMS to help finance the development of the Bloomberg terminal computer system and by 1984, in 1986, the company was renamed Bloomberg L. P. and 5,000 terminals had been installed in subscribers offices. Within a few years, ancillary products including Bloomberg Tradebook, the Bloomberg Messaging Service, Bloomberg launched its news services division in 1990. Bloomberg. com was first established on September 29,1993 as a portal with information on markets, currency conversion, news and events. In late 1996, Bloomberg bought back one-third of Merrill Lynchs 30 percent stake in the company for $200 million, Bloomberg L. P. has remained a private company since its founding, the majority of which is owned by Michael Bloomberg. To run for the position of Mayor of New York against Democrat Mark Green in 2001, Bloomberg gave up his position of CEO, in 2008, Fenwick became the CEO of Bloomberg Ventures, a new venture capital division. Daniel Doctoroff, former deputy mayor in the Bloomberg administration, now serves as president, in September 2014, Bloomberg sold its Bloomberg Sports analysis division to the data analysis firm STATS LLC for a fee rumored to be between $15 million and $20 million. On July 9,2014, Bloomberg L. P. acquired RTS Realtime Systems, in 1992, Bloomberg L. P. purchased New York Radio station WNEW for $13.5 million. The station was converted into a format, known as Bloomberg Radio. Bloomberg L. P. bought weekly business magazine, BusinessWeek, following the acquisition, BusinessWeek was renamed Bloomberg Businessweek. In 2010, Bloomberg L. P acquired Eagle Eye Publishing and this acquisition became part of Bloomberg Government which was launched in early 2011. In 2009, Bloomberg L. P. purchased New Energy Finance, New Energy Finance was created by Michael Liebreich in 2004 to provide news, data and analysis on carbon and clean energy markets. Bloomberg L. P. acquired the company to become a resource for information to support low-carbon energy solutions. Liebreich continued to lead the company, serving as the executive officer until 2014. Bloomberg L. P. purchased Arlington, Virginia-based Bureau of National Affairs in August 2011 for $990 million to bolster its existing Bloomberg Government, BNA publishes specialized online and print news and information for professionals in business and government. On 16 December 2015 it was announced that Barclays had agreed to sell its business, Barclays Risk Analytics and Index Solutions Ltd, to Bloomberg L. P. for £520 million

35.
David Koch
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David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He joined the family business Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the United States and he became president of the subsidiary Koch Engineering in 1979, and became a co-owner of Koch Industries, with older brother Charles, in 1983. He is now a vice president. He was the 1980 candidate for Vice President of the United States from the United States Libertarian Party and he founded Citizens for a Sound Economy. He and his brother Charles have donated to political groups and to political campaigns. Condé Nast Portfolio described him as one of the most generous, Koch has contributed to several charities including Lincoln Center, Sloan Kettering, New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the Dinosaur Wing at the American Museum of Natural History. The New York State Theater at Lincoln Center, home of the New York City Ballet was renamed the David H. Koch Theater in 2008 following a gift of 100 million dollars for the renovation of the theater. Koch is the fourth richest person in America as of 2012, and he is the ninth-wealthiest person in the world, as of 2014. He is a survivor of the USAir Flight 1493 crash in 1991, Koch was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Mary Clementine and Fred Chase Koch, a chemical engineer. Davids paternal grandfather, Harry Koch, was a Dutch immigrant who founded the Quanah Tribune-Chief newspaper and was a shareholder of Quanah, Acme. David is the third of four sons, with elder brothers Frederick R. Koch, Charles Koch, among his maternal great-great-grandparents were William Ingraham Kip, an Episcopalian bishop, William Burnet Kinney, a politician, and Elizabeth Clementine Stedman, a writer. Koch attended the Deerfield Academy prep school in Massachusetts, graduating in 1959 and he went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning both a bachelors and a masters degree in chemical engineering. He is a member of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, Koch played basketball at MIT, averaging 21 points per game at MIT over three years, a school record. He also held the scoring record of 41 points from 1962 until 2009. In 1970, Koch joined Koch Industries under his brother Charles and he founded the company’s New York office and in 1979 he became the president of his own division, Koch Engineering, renamed Chemical Technology Group. In 1985, Koch Industries was sued by Bill Koch and Frederick R. Koch for the first time in a series of lawsuits about ownership. As of 2010, David Koch owned 42 percent of Koch Industries, Koch was the Libertarian Partys vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark. S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE

David Koch
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Koch in 2015
David Koch

36.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians

37.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed

38.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety

39.
Evan Spiegel
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Evan Thomas Spiegel is an American Internet entrepreneur. Evan was born in Los Angeles, California, to Melissa Ann Thomas and John W. Spiegel, Spiegel grew up in Pacific Palisades, California. He was educated at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, Spiegel took design classes at the Otis College of Art and Design while still in high school and at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena the summer before entering Stanford. He also had an internship in sales at Red Bull. While a student, he worked as an intern for a biomedical company, as a careers instructor in Cape Town, South Africa. Spiegel was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, in 2012, Evan left Stanford to focus on Snapchat shortly before completing his degree. While studying product design at Stanford he proposed Snapchat as a class project, Spiegel co-founded the mobile application Snapchat along with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. He is the CEO of Snap, Inc, in February of 2017, Spiegel and Murphy, pledged to donate upwards of 13,000,000 shares of Class A common stock over the next 15-20 years to an arts, education and youth non profit. In May 2014 Valleywag, a Gawker blog, released a set of written by Spiegel during his undergraduate career to fraternity members. Im sorry I wrote them at the time and I was a jerk to have written them and they in no way reflect who I am today or my views towards women. Spiegel began dating model Miranda Kerr in 2015, the two first met each other at a Louis Vuitton dinner in New York in 2014. They became engaged on July 20,2016, as of 2016, Spiegel was ranked #854 on the Forbes 400 with $4 billion in wealth. Spiegel is also a member of the Berggruen Institutes 21st Century Council

Evan Spiegel
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Spiegel in 2013

40.
Snapchat
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One of the principal concepts of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are only available for a short time before they become inaccessible. The prototype for Snapchat was started by Brown and Spiegel as a project for one of Spiegels classes at Stanford, beginning as Picaboo, the idea was to create a selfie app which allowed users to share images that were explicitly short-lived and self-deleting. The temporary nature of the pictures would therefore encourage frivolity and emphasize a more natural flow of interaction, Murphy was eventually brought into the project to write the source code for the application, and Picaboo first launched as an iOS-only app in July 2011 from Evan Spiegels living room. The application was relaunched two months later under the name Snapchat, Snapchat evolved into a mix of private messaging and public content, including brand networks, publications, and live events such as sports and music. Nevertheless, according to studies conducted in March 2016, the personal oriented messaging was still being accessed by users more than the publicly offered content that was being presented. 24% responded that they accessed all features equally, however, about three quarters of those surveyed were also familiar with the events, media brands, and celebrity content, having a favorable opinion of those areas. According to documents and deposition statements, Reggie Brown brought the idea for a disappearing pictures application to Evan Spiegel because Spiegel had prior business experience, Brown and Spiegel then pulled in Bobby Murphy, who had experience coding. Early on, the Snapchat team focused on usability and technical aspects, one exception was the decision to keep a mascot designed by Brown, Ghostface Chillah, named after Ghostface Killah of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan. The project eventually formed the parent company, Snapchat Inc. On May 8,2012, Reggie Brown sent an email to Evan Spiegel during their year at Stanford in which he offered to re-negotiate his equitable share regarding ownership of the company. Lawyers for Snapchat responded by insisting that he had never had any connection to the product. The attorneys also accused Brown of committing fraud against Spiegel and Murphy by falsely claiming to be a product inventor. On behalf of their clients, the law firm concluded that Reggie Brown had made no contributions of value or worth, in September 2014, Brown settled with Spiegel and Murphy for $157.5 million and for getting credited as one of the original authors of Snapchat. In their first blog post, dated May 9,2012, CEO Evan Spiegel described the companys mission and its about communicating with the full range of human emotion—not just what appears to be pretty or perfect. In May 2012,25 images were being sent per second and, as of November 28,2012, users had shared over one billion photos on the Snapchat iOS app, with 20 million photos being shared per day. In November 2012, Spiegel cited problems with userbase scalability as the reason why Snapchat was experiencing some difficulties delivering its images, known as snaps, Snapchat was released as an Android app on October 29,2012. In December 2012, Snapchat added the ability to send video snaps in addition to photos, by holding down on the photo button while inside the app, a video of up to 10 seconds in length can be captured. After a single viewing, the video disappears by default, Spiegel explained that this process allowed the video data to be compressed into the size of a photo

Snapchat
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Snapchat Logo on iOS 8 and Android

41.
David Rockefeller
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David Rockefeller was an American banker who was chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family and family patriarch from August 2004 until his death in March 2017, Rockefeller was a son of John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and a grandson of John D. Rockefeller and Laura Spelman Rockefeller. He was noted for his political connections and foreign travel. His fortune was estimated at $3.3 billion at the time of his death in 2017, Rockefeller was born in New York City, and grew up in an eight-story house at 10 West 54th Street, the tallest private residence ever built in the city. He was the youngest of six born to financier John Davison Rockefeller Jr. John Jr. was the son of Standard Oil co-founder John Davison Rockefeller Sr. Abby was a daughter of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail Pearce Truman Abby Chapman, davids five elder siblings were Abby, John III, Nelson, Laurance, and Winthrop. Rockefeller attended the experimental Lincoln School at 123rd Street in Harlem, in 1936, he graduated cum laude from Harvard University. He also studied economics for a year at Harvard and then a year at the London School of Economics, at LSE he first met future President John F. Kennedy and once dated Kennedys sister Kathleen. During his time abroad, Rockefeller briefly worked in the London branch of what was to become the Chase Manhattan Bank, after returning to the U. S. to complete his graduate studies, in 1940 he received a Ph. D. from the University of Chicago. After completing his studies in Chicago, he became secretary to New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia for eighteen months in a dollar a year public service position. Although the mayor pointed out to the press that Rockefeller was only one of 60 interns in the city government, his space was, in fact. From 1941 to 1942, Rockefeller was assistant regional director of the United States Office of Defense, Health and he enlisted in the U. S. Army and entered Officer Candidate School in 1943, he was ultimately promoted to Captain in 1945. During World War II he served in North Africa and France for military intelligence setting up political, for seven months he also served as an assistant military attaché at the American Embassy in Paris. During this period, he would call on family contacts and Standard Oil executives for assistance, in 1946, Rockefeller joined the staff of the longtime family-associated Chase National Bank. The chairman at that time was Rockefellers uncle Winthrop W. Aldrich, the Chase Bank was primarily a wholesale bank, dealing with other prominent financial institutions and major corporate clients such as General Electric. Chase National subsequently became the Chase Manhattan Bank in 1955 and shifted significantly into consumer banking and it is now called JPMorgan Chase. Rockefeller started as an assistant manager in the foreign department, there he financed international trade in a number of commodities, such as coffee, sugar and metals

David Rockefeller
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David Rockefeller (left) with Eleanor Roosevelt, Trygve Lie, and Thomas J. Watson in 1953
David Rockefeller
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David Rockefeller (second from right) shaking hands with Jawad Hashim (left) in 1980
David Rockefeller
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David Rockefeller launches IESC in White House Rose Garden in 1964.

42.
Iceland
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Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of 332,529 and an area of 103,000 km2, the capital and largest city is Reykjavík. Reykjavík and the areas in the southwest of the country are home to over two-thirds of the population. Iceland is volcanically and geologically active, the interior consists of a plateau characterised by sand and lava fields, mountains and glaciers, while many glacial rivers flow to the sea through the lowlands. Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream and has a climate, despite a high latitude just outside the Arctic Circle. Its high latitude and marine influence still keeps summers chilly, with most of the archipelago having a tundra climate. According to the ancient manuscript Landnámabók, the settlement of Iceland began in the year 874 AD when the Norwegian chieftain Ingólfr Arnarson became the first permanent settler on the island. In the following centuries, Norwegians, and to a lesser extent other Scandinavians, emigrated to Iceland, the island was governed as an independent commonwealth under the Althing, one of the worlds oldest functioning legislative assemblies. Following a period of strife, Iceland acceded to Norwegian rule in the 13th century. The establishment of the Kalmar Union in 1397 united the kingdoms of Norway, Denmark, Iceland thus followed Norways integration to that Union and came under Danish rule after Swedens secession from that union in 1523. In the wake of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars, Icelands struggle for independence took form and culminated in independence in 1918, until the 20th century, Iceland relied largely on subsistence fishing and agriculture, and was among the poorest in Europe. Industrialisation of the fisheries and Marshall Plan aid following World War II brought prosperity, in 1994, it became a part of the European Economic Area, which further diversified the economy into sectors such as finance, biotechnology, and manufacturing. Iceland has an economy with relatively low taxes compared to other OECD countries. It maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. Iceland ranks high in economic, political and social stability and equality, in 2013, it was ranked as the 13th most-developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index. Iceland runs almost completely on renewable energy, some bankers were jailed, and the economy has made a significant recovery, in large part due to a surge in tourism. Icelandic culture is founded upon the nations Scandinavian heritage, most Icelanders are descendants of Germanic and Gaelic settlers. Icelandic, a North Germanic language, is descended from Old Norse and is related to Faroese

43.
Guatemala
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With an estimated population of around 15.8 million, it is the most populated state in Central America. Guatemala is a democracy, its capital and largest city is Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción. The territory of modern Guatemala once formed the core of the Maya civilization, most of the country was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th century, becoming part of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Guatemala attained independence in 1821 as part of the Federal Republic of Central America, from the mid to late 19th century, Guatemala experienced chronic instability and civil strife. Beginning in the early 20th century, it was ruled by a series of dictators backed by the United Fruit Company, in 1944, authoritarian leader Jorge Ubico was overthrown by a pro-democratic military coup, initiating a decade-long revolution that led to sweeping social and economic reforms. A U. S. -backed military coup in 1954 ended the revolution, from 1960 to 1996, Guatemala endured a bloody civil war fought between the US-backed government and leftist rebels, including genocidal massacres of the Maya population perpetrated by the military. As of 2014, Guatemala ranks 31st of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries in terms of the Human Development Index, Guatemalas abundance of biologically significant and unique ecosystems includes a large number of endemic species and contributes to Mesoamericas designation as a biodiversity hotspot. The country is known for its rich and distinct culture. The name Guatemala comes from the Nahuatl word Cuauhtēmallān, or place of many trees and this was the name the Tlaxcaltecan soldiers who accompanied Pedro de Alvarado during the Spanish Conquest gave to this territory. The first evidence of habitation in Guatemala dates back to 12,000 BC. Evidence, such as obsidian arrowheads found in parts of the country. There is archaeological proof that early Guatemalan settlers were hunters and gatherers, pollen samples from Petén and the Pacific coast indicate that maize cultivation had been developed by 3500 BC. Sites dating back to 6500 BC have been found in the Quiché region in the Highlands, archaeologists divide the pre-Columbian history of Mesoamerica into the Preclassic period, the Classic period, and the Postclassic period. Until recently, the Preclassic was regarded as a period, with small villages of farmers who lived in huts. This period is characterized by urbanisation, the emergence of independent city-states and this lasted until approximately 900 AD, when the Classic Maya civilization collapsed. The Maya abandoned many of the cities of the lowlands or were killed off by a drought-induced famine. The cause of the collapse is debated, but the Drought Theory is gaining currency, supported by such as lakebeds, ancient pollen. A series of prolonged droughts, among other such as overpopulation, in what is otherwise a seasonal desert is thought to have decimated the Maya

Guatemala
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Tikal Mayan ruins.
Guatemala
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Flag
Guatemala
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The Conquistador Pedro de Alvarado led the initial Spanish efforts to conquer Guatemala.
Guatemala
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Criollos rejoice upon learning about the declaration of independence from Spain on September 15, 1821.

44.
Telmex
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Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional telephone service, Telmex offers Internet access, data, hosted services. Telmex owns 90 percent of the lines in Mexico City and 80 percent of the lines in the country. Telmex is an owned subsidiary of América Móvil. Telmex was founded in 1947 when a group of Mexican investors bought Swedish Ericssons Mexican branch, in 1950, the same investors bought the Mexican branch of the ITT Corporation, thus becoming the only telephone provider in the country. In 1972, the Mexican government bought the company, turning it into a government monopoly, in 1990, Telmex was bought by a group of investors formed principally by Carlos Slim Helú, France Télécom, and Southwestern Bell Corporation, whose tender was the largest. However, controversially, the payment itself took place over the course of the several years. After privatization, Telmex began investing in new infrastructure, creating a nationwide fiber optic network. In 1991, the Mexican government sold its stock in Telmex. Although Telmex is now a company, it stills remains as a quasi-monopoly. There are other companies in Mexico, but they have failed to be fierce competitors for Telmex. Among these companies are, Alestra, Axtel, Maxcom, Megacable, Totalplay, in the 1990s, mobile telephones were becoming popular among the general population. The early market leader was Iusacell, and Telmex had no presence in the market and this prompted Telmex to form a subsidiary to provide mobile communications. The subsidiary was Radio Móvil Dipsa, and it offered service under the brand Telcel, Telcel started out in a distant second place in its mobile market, but in 1995 everything changed, when the Mexican currency crisis hit many Mexicans hard. Iusacell decided to stay with wealthier customers, offering expensive plans, in 2000, Telmex spun off their mobile unit, creating América Móvil, which controls Radio Móvil Dipsa and was free to develop its own business as an independent entity. It started with 80% of the mobile market, in 2010, America Móvil bought 60% of Telmex, paying over 23 billion dollars. In 2011, America Móvil purchased the remaining 40% of Telmex, in August 2012, America Móvil started the process to de-list Telmex from the Mexican Stock Exchange. In the mid-1990s, Telmex began providing Internet access as an Internet service provider with the brand Uninet, a year later, the brand was changed to Telmex Internet Directo Personal